Among a sombre crowd at Melbourne's candlelight vigil for slain asylum seeker Reza Barati was one man who shared the same name, the same Kurdish origin and a similarly harrowing background.

Reza, 29, was among about 5000 people who lit a candle at Federation Square on Sunday night to mourn and remember the 23-year-old detainee who died during violent clashes at an Australian-run detention centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

The Glenroy man said he had come to support the Iranian man's family and "all the other Rezas" who had died.

A vigil for 23-year-old Reza Barati, the Iranian man who died during violent clashes on Manus Island earlier this week Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

"I'm a refugee myself," he said.

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"I came four years ago by boat and I was in a detention centre and I've been through all those difficulties that asylum seekers are going through now these days.

"I just came to show Reza's family that we will never forget Reza and, at the same time, to tell the federal government we are not happy with these changes and policies, and we will support asylum seekers as much as we can, and we will never forget Reza and other Rezas who die in the sea.

"A lot of Kurdish have been killed in Iraq, in Syria, in Turkey and other countries, and we thought we will be safe and secure if we leave our country and come to first-world countries like Australia."

A tattoo on his forearm states: "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

World Vision Australia CEO Tim Costello and former Victorian of the Year Father Bob Maguire spoke at the event, which was organised by activist group GetUp!

“I'm coming to the vigil straight from Sunday Mass, and the message is the same at both: our decency is judged by how we treat poor souls like Reza," Father Bob said.

“This young man came to us seeking protection and safety. Instead he was brutally killed in our care, in our detention, and in our names.”

North Caulfield woman Karen Morrissey said she believed Manus Island should be closed down.

''I don't think the refugees there are safe,'' she said.

"It really really worries me about how the government is treating people who are running away from life-threatening situations in other countries, and it really bothers me that at Manus Island and at the other places where the asylum seekers are detained that we're treating them so appallingly."

Altona Meadows mother Shelley Bernoth, who lit a candle with daughter, Stephanie, said attending the vigil meant a lot to them because seeking asylum was not illegal.

"No one should be dying in detention centres and we should be caring more for people who are in detention," she said. "We should have never had to be here tonight."

Iranian refugee Jahangir Hosseini also came to the square with daughter, Nosrat, who is involved with the Iranian Women's Association.

"I've come out today, along with other members of the Iranian community, to show my support and my solidarity for refugees who have fled from horrific circumstances in their home country, whether that be Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan," Ms Hosseini said.

"This is a bleak chapter in our history and the international community will judge Australia very harshly for its treatment of asylum seekers and refugees whose only crime is to seek asylum."

GetUp! national director Sam Mclean said that about 15,000 people attended more than 750 vigils across Australia to demand an independent inquiry into Mr Berati's death and "proper public scrutiny of detention camps".

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